One Hundred and Sixty-Eight
by ProfessionalPervette
Summary: Turns out chugging Magnolia's best love potion isn't a good idea - depending on who you ask. After Lucy drinks up an entire vial, the three best men in her life are forced to express their affection stronger than ever before, because now she only has a week to decide! As time passes, the potion's potency grows stronger; will Lucy be able to decide in time? Harem: NaLu, GraLu, LoLu


**Chapter One:**

 **Day Zero**

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"Ahh!" Lucy sighed to herself out of pure contentment.

At last, Lucy had finally found some time she could spend by herself. For the first time in a long while, Lucy allowed herself to fully sink into a state of near-perfect tranquillity with herself.

With all the summoning, fighting, and practically near-death experiences she had gone through with Team Natsu without any break for the past few weeks, she really needed to take time for herself. Although she holds her team and its members close to her heart, all that work can get tiring after days and days of their antics.

Ersa's intensity and fear-mongering, Gray's poor ability to keep his clothes on (which strangely seemed to be getting worse lately), Natsu's child-like recklessness and pride, and both of the boys' near-constant bickering was getting close to driving her mad.

It wasn't just her that needed a break either. Aquarius, for once, wasn't the only one of her celestial spirits commenting on how much she was summoning them; of course, the other's were nicer about it. She could tell there was an issue when Loke, the spirit of hers that frequently told her to summon him more often and that adores every second he spends with her, told her that even he was getting a little tuckered out.

Really though, Levy was truly a lifesaver. Thanks to her offering to take her spot on the upcoming mission, Lucy finally had the ability to breathe, if only for one mission. Even when Lucy expressed her concern about Levy going on a mission that may be too high of a rank for her, Gajeel offered to join Team Natsu for the mission too. Despite the fact that Gajeel was mostly doing it to hang out with Levy, Lucy still appreciated their kindness.

"God, why don't I do this more often?"

Sinking into the comfort of her house's perfectly warm bath, she soaked in her favourite bottle of bubble bath mixed in along with the water, admiring the early night view of the stars she shared a gaze with outside her window. Listening to the crickets chirp, Lucy let go of every last bit of tension she had accumulated in her muscles, her joints, and most importantly her mind.

Well, not every last bit.

Time passed, and as it did, the perfect quiet that echoed through her sweet home became blemished.

"...Hm..."

The water slowly cooling to a temperature a degree too cold for her, Lucy stretched herself out of the bath. Once she did, she, unfortunately, discovered the chilly air that now surrounded her skin was even worse at keeping her warm.

As quickly as she stood out of the bath, she felt a small shiver climb upward through her spine. It was then she realized.

"Crap! I forgot my towel!"

Just as fast as the panic hit her, it was relived, as she realized nobody was outside her door to see her naked form. Her house belonged to no one but her now.

Nobody was there when she wrapped her body in a towel. Nobody was there as she dried and brushed her hair into her usual style. Nobody was there as she cooked and ate a quick meal she made for herself. Nobody was there when she crawled into her bed to lull herself asleep.

Not a single one.

How long had she been staring up at her ceiling now? It had to be at least 5 minutes, right?

Maybe even 20 minutes at this point. She truly didn't know. All she knew was that she was still feeling chilly despite getting dry some while ago.

Lucy was the type of person who was energized and given meaning and joy by those around her. When nobody was around, either doing things more important or doing things with other people, she found herself here.

Lonely. She was sadly made lonely pretty easily.

But this loneliness she felt was of a specific type, and she understood this; she understood this very well. Her genre of loneliness was made out of a desire for something she longed over for the longest time.

She wanted a hand to hold, a soft pair of lips to kiss, a mind to share her everything with, and one to share theirs too.

She wanted a partner.

Lucy realized that silently yearning for a love while staring a hole in her ceiling wasn't going to get her one at all - it was just gonna keep her up.

"Open, gate of Canis Minor. Nicola!" Lucy chimed in a tone much less enthusiastic than normal.

"...Punn-punn!" Plue cheered to his owner, his expression quickly changing when he took the time to observe the emotion on her face. "Punn-punn..."

"Hey lil' guy." Lucy greeted him, discontent clear in her voice. "You wanna go on a walk with me?"

"...Punn!"

And walk they did, balancing on the edge of the road without a single worry over falling into the water below as always, as she left the neighbourhood and entered into the empty streets of the more urban areas of Magnolia. She let her mind draw a blank as she and Plue ventured into streets of Magnolia she'd stumbled down so many times before without a word between the two - a comfortable silence.

When Lucy ran out of sidewalk to balance on, she simply jogged over to another object to balance on. Rocks, cracks running along the street, wheel-prints, anything and everything you possibly balance on. After some time of chasing places to do her balancing act, a female voice spoke out from the dark.

"Y'know sweetheart, do that enough and you will fall." She spoke to Lucy in a friendly tone.

Turning to meet the voice, Lucy noticed a small potion cart with a petite woman, possibly in her 60's or 70's, wearing a small cloak was a little ways across the street from her. It was easy to hear her quiet voice despite this, due to the complete emptiness of the streets.

Lucy, not in the mood to talk to a stranger but also not wanting to be rude, stopped in her tracks and chimed back in a tone that tried to hide her distress. "Haha. Yeah, I know, but I think it's worth the chance."

Apparently, Lucy did so poorly, as the old lady addressed her tone of voice with worry. "Oh, can't-fool me, young lady. What's got you down?"

Not being one to shy away from talking about her problems, Lucy walked right up to the cart to converse with the concerned woman, Plue following in her footsteps.

Lucy's posture slouched slightly as she blurted out "That obvious, huh?"

"Live long enough and you start to catch the patterns people make." She explained. "Although, I am no mind-reader, so you'll have to tell me what's troublin' you."

Lucy let out a short sigh as she simplified her issue into one quick and easy-to-swallow sentence. "I really just want a decent guy to share myself with."

It seemed like the woman had experience talking about this topic, as she sympathized with Lucy with ease. "Ah yes, of course. Being a young woman fightin' against the world with no one there to truly catch and hold you close when you stumble and fall; quite the difficult feat."

"You're telling me." Lucy croaked.

"Though you view yourself strong and independent, perfectly capable of catching yourself with the strength of self-love and love from friends at your side, you still crave it. You know you are strong, and you know you are capable even when you don't feel like it, but you still want it." The woman interjected into the quiet night, seeming knowledgeable enough on the topic that Lucy presumed she had been through this position herself.

"Naturally. You want a new and unknown level of intimacy you've never felt before. Someone to get lost in, someone to wrap you in their warmth when loneliness makes you cold."

"Yeah." Lucy wistfully agreed.

The land was still for a moment until the older woman asked: "Tell me, what's your name?"

"Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia."

"Well, Ms. Heartfilia,' she continued, 'You are at a potion cart. I can offer you somethin' if you're up for it."

"I…" Lucy paused for a moment.

Lucy wasn't normally the type of person to mess with this type of stuff. Magic that messed with people's affection just never sat well with her moral ground. But then again, this woman didn't seem to have malicious intentions but rather appeared to be rather kind-hearted and people-smart.

Well, Lucy supposed taking a look wouldn't hurt. Right?

"S-sure! I guess I could see what it is."

"Great to hear, dear!" The lady proclaimed in content.

She bent over with a little bit of a struggle to rummage through the liquid contents underneath her cart.

"Name's Ms. Chandice. Just Chandice works." She said from under her cart.

"Oh, well, nice to meet you, Chandice!" Lucy greeted back pleasantly.

After a short search, Chandice exclaimed a short "Aha!" of cheer. "Can't hide from me."

With a quiet "tink!", Chandice dropped a vial onto the top of her cart. "Here she is! The one you're looking for."

The small container had quite a cute to it. It had a long cork in the shape of a heart practically popping out of it, with the vial holding the same shape instead of a cylinder.

The liquid inside the tiny glass container seemed to practically glow, looking like the brightest shade of rose pink Lucy had ever seen. She was 50% sure she saw glitter floating in the liquid too.

Being completely honest, it didn't quite look edible.

"You sure it's safe?"

"Oh Miss, I'm cert'n! I'd go outta business quick if I just sold poison to any potential regulars. This stuff takes time and quality ingredient to make - especially ones like this." Chandice calmly promised.

She slid the potion over to Lucy. "Now, you got any Jewels on you? 'Cause this girl has taken some time to churn up."

"Oh, right. Uh, let me see…"

"Tell you what, Lucy. I change my mind." Chandice stated. "You seem like a lovely gal. So, you're off the hook. Have it free."

"Oh, really?" Lucy chirped.

"That's awesome! I'll take it!"

And, lost in the joy of saving money for rent, Lucy thoughtlessly popped off the cork and swigged the vial's content's down.

"M-miss, wait!" Chandice cried, stretching her arms over to snatch the vial out of her mouth.

Alas, an old woman of the likes of Ms. Chandice didn't have the speed she used to when she was young, and by the time Lucy pulled the vial from her mouth to say "Huh?", it was too late.

Lucy let out a weak burp as a small, heart-shaped bubble came out of her throat, staying in the air as if to mock them, then popping into nothing.

The air was silent with shock on Ms. Chandice's end.

"...What do you mean, 'wait'?" Lucy questioned.

After a longer pause, Chandice let out a strained sigh. "...Goodness, dear. You don't even know what it does and you just chugged it down."

"Is...Is that a bad thing?"

"Oh dear." Chandice told to herself. "It is if you wanted to know it's side-effects, how long it takes to wear off, or what it does before you drank it…"

"...Oh…"

Reaching out from under her potion cart, Chandice pulled out a piece of paper titled "Blood Rush" scrawled with four sections of writing: "Stages", "Side Effects", "Rules for Proper Use", and "DO NOT...", with a place for a signature at the bottom.

"I was gonna get you to sign this and go over this with you before so you could understand what you were getting into," Chandice chided, "But hey, no use going over past mistakes. Let's get to it!"

Chandice's voice had a serious tone when she looking directly into Lucy's eyes and told her "Alright Ms. Heartfilia. I'm gonna tell you how insane your week is going to be just after sunrise, so if you care for your well-being at all, young lady, you're gonna listen well."

 **...**

..

.

"I'll be alright, right Plue?"

"...P-punn." Plue nervously punned.

After saying goodnight, Lucy closed his gate and sent him back into the celestial realm.

Lying in bed, Lucy was, once again, staring a hole in her ceiling. Though now, it was for a different reason than before.

"How do I get myself into these things…" Lucy grumbled to herself.

And although she wouldn't admit it due to how stupid it sounded after hearing what Chandice told her, a part of her was excited too.

Despite being stressed out once again, Lucy eventually drifted off into sleep.

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Updating weekly - posted July 1st, 2018.

 **-PrPv**


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